A monocular night vision system basically incorporates a single eyepiece lens assembly, image intensifier assembly, and objective lens assembly. Most monocular night vision devices (MNVDS) are compact and lightweight to optimize hand-held use. MNVDS are often referred to as pocket scopes since they could optimally be small enough to be stored in a user's pockets.
Numerous MNVDS exist in the prior art. Examples of some of these night vision devices, including hand-held night vision devices, include U.S. Pat. No. 5,737,131 entitled NIGHT VISION MONOCULARS, issued Apr. 7, 1998 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,644,425, issued Jul. 1, 1997, entitled NIGHT VISION MONOCULAR WITH UNISTRUCTURAL OPTICAL BED also teaches a hand-held night vision device for use in both military and non-military applications, however these devices generally suffer from a combination of poor performance characteristics and design shortcomings which lead to inefficient device operation or limited flexibility, and poor performance. For example, a number of the monocular night vision devices have main housings which are made of metallic material which make them rugged, but heavy. Moreover, prior art MNVDs are often bulky and uncomfortable to hold in one's hand and are difficult to operate when deployed in completely dark areas. Furthermore, prior art MNVDS are often energy efficient, expending battery power even when not in use, such as during daylight. In the event of a headmounted device, prior art MNVDS did not automatically turn off when removed from the helmet mount or when flipped up in the helmet mount. Still further, prior art devices could not be mounted to an M16/M4 receiver rail as configured for the Modular Weapon System Kit (which fits the mounting rail defined in MIL-STD-93), and standard AN/PVS-7 accessories such as the lens cap, sacrificial filter, compass, 3.times. magnifier, and light interference filter could not be attached to the objective lens assembly of these devices.
Accordingly, a monocular night vision device which provides such features and which is lightweight and optimized for ease of manufacturing assembly is greatly desired.